As we ran, we encountered Yasri as she was walking along the road. She motioned over to us, so we stopped our movement towards the inn to speak to her.
"Ah, it is the adventurers! How goes your investigation?" She asked.
"Yasri, what do you know about the girl named 'Rena' that performs at the inn?" I asked her while getting very close.
"R-Renysan? She lives alone since her parents pa.s.sed away a few years ago." Yasri began.
"Okay. She said that she's Mulbik's number 1 idol. Do you know how long she has been claiming this?"
Yasri looked at me with a confused expression. "Idol? I knyow nyothing about this… Why would there be an idol in Mulbik?"
I backed away from Yasri as I was taken aback by her lack of knowledge on this subject. How does she not know about this?
"I thought you knew everyone in this town! Surely you would have heard about someone calling themselves an idol!" Tael suddenly shouted out.
"W-Well… I do nyot keep up with everything in the town…" Yasri muttered.
"Isn't that what you said your job is, Yasri-san?" Erana asked.
"Guh… W-Well, I keep up with… most things!" Yasri excused herself as she held up a single finger.
I let out a sigh as I walked a bit away from the group.
"Hm? Onii-san, what's up? Did you figure something out?" Kany turned over to me and asked.
If Yasri didn't know about this…
"Oi! Don't ignore me again!" Kany shouted out as she slapped me on the back.
"H-Hey! I'm thinking!" I turned and responded.
"Well don't just keep it to yourself! We're a party. Parties work as a unit."
I looked over to Tael and Erana and they both were simply watching me. Yasri quietly sidled away from the two of them before they could notice. Instead of saying anything, I just let out another sigh. Kany is right, if I want this to succeed, I'll need to ensure that everyone else is on the same page.
I gathered us all together in a tightly knit group and began my explanation.
"Look, it's possible that mind control can include things like memory erasure, so we can't depend on Yasri for this. What we need to do is go to the inn and question people that we KNOW would have some type of information, like the barkeeper or his son."
"Huh? Why would those two know anything, Kenji?"
"Well, remember how people shouted out for Rena last night before she performed?" I asked Tael.
"Yeah?"
"Well, I have a hard time believing that she's capable of both implanting and removing memories, especially from people that she isn't in close contact with." I explained.
Suddenly, it was as if a lightbulb appeared above Tael's head.
"So that means that the people at the inn would know more than anyone else!" Tael smiled and told the group.
"Exactly." x3
Tael's smile quickly turned into a dejected expression when he realized that the rest of us had already figured it out.
"Okay Kenji-san, what do you want to find out from innkeeper-san and his son?"
"Hm… Honestly I don't know yet. I usually just play it by ear when it comes to asking questions." I flatly stated as I scratched my chin.
The other 3 members of my party all stared at me with their mouths agape.
"Onii-san… You don't plan ahead for questioning?"
"Not really. I just know how to ask the right questions is all." I shrugged.
"The right questions…?" Erana stared at me curiously.
"Basically, ask questions that can only give you important information. Anything that can be used as either a weapon or as fuel is what you need to get when questioning someone."
"Kenji, I think you're going to need to show us instead of telling us." Tael sighed.
"Alright. Let's head to the inn. I'll demonstrate there."
"Okay!" x3
We all broke from our grouping and began to walk along the dirt path once more. It did not take us long before we came face to face with the inn once more. Since it was still in the middle of the morning, the inside of the inn was quiet.
I took a deep breath and walked through the doorway.
My vision was filled with the familiar visage of the interior of the inn. Tables were set with seats in front of them, the wooden interior mixed with the feeling of age gave the building a very old feeling.
Instead of choosing to appreciate the scenery, I immediately went towards the bar. Unfortunately, the innkeeper was not here.
"Excuse me!" I shouted.
Despite the fact that my voice echoed, n.o.body came. Maybe the innkeeper is hard of hearing?
"EXCUSE US!" Kany jumped up on the counter and shouted.
"WHAT? WHADDYA WANT YOU d.a.m.n KIDS?" The innkeeper shouted as he ran out of the side room while still in his pajamas.
"Onii-san, he's all yours." Kany pat me on the shoulder as she hopped down from the counter.
"Huh? What's all this about? Don't tell me you broke something…" The disgruntled innkeeper muttered as he rubbed his eyes.
I cracked my neck to ready myself. Old people tend to be the easiest to set off so I need to be careful.
"We need to ask you about the girl named Rena that performed here last night." I asked.
Suddenly, the innkeeper's face changed from frustration to elation.
"Ah! Renchan is such an angel, isn't she?" The innkeeper asked with a large ear to ear grin on his face.
"U-Um, about that… When did she start doing performances here in the inn?" I asked.
"Hm? If I remember correctly it was around 3 weeks ago…" The innkeeper said while scratching his head.
Before I could follow up on this, the innkeeper's son poked his head out from the side room to speak.
"Dad, it was 4 weeks ago, not 3." He declared.
"Oh, that's right!" The innkeeper knocked his own head. The party looked at him with a slight amount of disgust. If this were a cute girl it would have been fine, but this is a man that looks like he's in his 60's so it's mostly just weird.
Before I could follow up on asking more questions, Erana gave a light tug to my shirt so I turned over to her only to find her face was centimeters away from me.
"W-W-What is it!" I panicked.
"Kenji-san, the disappearances started last week. If she started this 4 weeks ago then it wouldn't make sense." Erana whispered to me.
I calmed down somewhat and composed myself. "This just means that she could have been playing the long game. I have the next question ready for this." I said as I began turning back around.
"Finished with your girlfriend, son?" The innkeeper asked with a smirk on his face.
"Guh!" x2 Erana and I both let out a guttural noise in response to this statement.
"Abababababa…" Erana was looking to the side and trembling slightly as she kept trying to say something.
After a moment, I composed myself and spoke.
"S-She's not my girlfriend. We're party members." I declared.
"Ah… I see." the innkeeper trailed off. After he said this, the room was filled with an uncomfortable silence.
Despite the size of this room, the atmosphere was filled with an awkward flavor.
I cleared my throat to continue my questioning.
"Ahem… Okay, was she a good singer when she started?"
I could hear Tael give a quiet "Huh?" behind me, but I decided to ignore him.
"Hah! Feeling dejected about how bad you were last night and you want some encouragement it seems! I understand where you're coming from, but even when she began, Renchan was still definitely better than you at singing." The innkeeper declared.
"N-No that's not it! I just wanted to know if she was as good as she is now!" I slammed on the bar.
"Oh. Well… I think she got better? There was this one night where music came out of nowhere and it was really nifty. We all had a good time that night…" The innkeeper trailed off.
This time, Kany tugged on my shirt to ask me to talk to her, so I pulled in towards her and kept a reasonable distance so as not to get anything mistaken.
"Onii-san, if she started as a normal person then why would she suddenly start doing things like mind controlling people?" Kany whispered to me.
"It's possible that she's the yandere type. She doesn't want people to do anything other than listen to her singing so she kidnaps them through mind control." I whispered back.
"Oh, I see." Kany responded.
I turned back towards the innkeeper once more.
"I have a few more questions if you don't mind."
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